I’m writing this from the posh Hyatt Regency Bandung hotel room where the broadband connection costs an stupid ridiculous $15 per-24 hour. Or was it $50? Whatever.

When I was still a student at ITB, everytime I pass this hotel, I used to say to my friends: “Hey, one day I’m gonna come back here and stay THERE. I’m done with crappy kos-kosan and stuff.”

And now I’m here. Although on a business trip, it’s still the same. I’m here. I thought it was gonna feel different, but it’s really not. Bandung still looks and feels the same as twelve years ago when I first set foot in this charming town. Yesterday I went to Bandung Indah Plaza, and although things changed there, I can still see me and my best friends shopping for groceries at Yogya Supermarket -which to my amazement has not lost its customers to the supposedly bigger and better Hypermart downstairs-.

Right. I just came back from a full-blown family gathering at my cousin’s place. Random thoughts weirdnesses as follows:

1. Weird how it seems like only yesterday that we used to sweat in the sweltering heat playing with anything available to play with (read: bicycles, the neighbor’s cats, an uncle’s car) and mocking the boring adults who sit nicely and talk with obnoxious laughters thrown sporadically and yelling “CAREFUL!” at us, while today we became those boring adults who sit nicely and talk with obnoxious laughters thrown sporadically while neurotically yelling “CAREFUL!” to the kids sweating in the sweltering heat playing with anything available to play with and mocking US.

Thank You God, for the neverending blessings all throughout my 29 years of living.
Thank You for the health of both my parents.
Thank You for giving me company and love through my dearest man.
Thank You for the caring best friends, who always stand by me.
Thank You for sending new wonderful friends with big hearts.
Thank You for allowing me to work with high-quality colleagues.
Thank You for the understanding and supporting bosses.
Thank You for everything, God.

What we never really realize is… the Holy month also boosts up everyone’s social life. Including mine, the non-muslim. Every year. And that makes me really happy!

Imagine this:

In regular days, I won’t be out of the office until about 8 p.m. There’s almost always something to do. When there’s not much to do, I’d be browsing the internet for nothing… just for the sake of waiting for the traffic to subside. I’d be turning down dinner invitations from friends, because I’d rather have dinner at home with my parents and therefore friends can be met on weekends. My snuggly bed is the one thing I can’t seem to stop thinking about, and when I do get home, I’d be tired and would just lazily lay around and watch TV until I fall asleep. Not much of a social life there.

My phone rang yesterday, just as I was finishing up shooting at the studio. It was my friend Barrie.

+ “Hi Und! Are you busy right now?”
– “Well I’m just about to wrap up the shoot for today. Wassup?”
+ “Oh go ahead then, this can wait.”
– “No no, it’s fine. We’re on a break anyway. Wassup?”
+ “I just wanna invite you to a movie premiere tomorrow. That is, if you have the time”
– “A movie premiere? You’re writing the script?”
+ “Not this one, but this is like the thing that I’ve been working on for the past few months”
– “When is the premiere again?”
+ “Tomorrow. I invited Mr. J too and he said he’d come. So if you’re free maybe the three of us can meet up!”
– “Cool! So you’re sending the invites?”
+ “Just come, I’ll have the tickets ready. It’s not like any other premieres. You actually get seat numbers. So come, okay? It’s at 8 p.m. Grande MPX”
– “I’ll have to reconfirm tomorrow at about noon. Can I call you then?”
+ “Of course. See ya!”

That short conversation turned to be one of the greatest night I’ve had in such a LONG time. Well it might be just ‘regular’ for some, but to me it was great.

I went to Ancol to shoot the holiday episode for my show today. Very tiring, as I expected.

What I did NOT expect was the streams of feelings rushing inside me. Confused? Read on.

The day started at 7.30 a.m when I arrived at Yayasan Sayap Ibu, a modest orphanage tucked within South Jakarta’s somewhat ‘elite’ residential area, Barito. This orphanage had exsited way back from the fifties, and located just beside the famous Hero Barito Supermarket. I’ve always been curious on what orphanages are like from the inside, yet haven’t got the guts to enter one. I’m a very sensitive person whenever it comes to orphans and senior citizens without families, heck I used to just cry seeing beggars when I was small and get laughed at for doing so quite a few times. That is why, I guess, I grew up somewhat blocking my eyes and ears from these phenomenons and directed myself to be ignorant because I believed that what I don’t know won’t hurt me (anymore).

Now, it was my idea to take the orphans to a day of fun for the show and so I had to be responsible. Tell you the truth, I couldn’t really sleep last night, afraid that I might break down and cry seeing the poor little kids running around having fun. So I consciously conditioned myself with this mantra:

It has always been my habit to look back on everything that had passed whenever a TV show ends its season. This time, I looked back on the recently ended American Idol and I realized that I haven’t said anything about a man named Sherman Pore. Been too busy bitching about the contestants and praising Melinda Doolittle too much, I forgot about the real winner of the show.

Welcome to Miund’s English blog This is the ideal place to sit back, relax and be your usual couch potato self. I believe that having the ability to flick the remote while sipping your soda and grabbing a handful of potato chips… is enough reason to call it “multitasking”. Life ... Continue reading →